Norfolk served in the Atlantic and Home Fleets during 1930/32, then went to the America and West Indies Station between 1932 and 1934. From 1935 to 1939 she served on the East Indies Station before coming home to refit in 1939, being still in dockyard hands when war was declared. On 6 September she joined the 18th Cruiser Squadron with the Home Fleet in the Denmark Straits. In early December, with the return of Berwiek from the West Indies and Devonshire from the Mediterranean, Norfolk, with Suffolk, re formed the 1st Cruiser Squadron, operating with the Home Fleet in northern waters. On 15 March 1940, while at Scapa, she was hit by bombs and went to the Clyde to repair. She returned to service with the Home Fleet in June. In December 1940 she was ordered to the South Atlantic on trade protection duties, operating from Freetown as part of Force K and also tasked with the hunt for Admiral Scheer and, in January 1941, the raider Kormoran. In February she escorted Atlantic troop convoys, but by May she had returned to Icelandic waters, and patrolled the Denmark Straits at the time of the Bismarck sortie. She was present at the final sinking of the battleship, having taken part in the whole action from her discovery in the Denmark Straits. From July to September the ship was in refit, after which she spent the rest of the war on Arctic convoy duties with the Home Fleet, culminating in the action against Scharnhorst off North Cape in December 1943, when she received shell hits. Repairs were combined with a long refit, and as a result she did not re-enter service until November 1944, after which she returned to the Home Fleet, participating in the sweeps along the Norwegian coast in 1945 until the end of the war. She was handed to BISCO for scrapping on 3 January 1950, and arrived at Cashmore, Newport, for breaking up on 19 February.

1937 in China station colours

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nice photo of Norfolk off Iceland - probably 1941

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mid war - aircraft and catapult exchanged for AA guns

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in the foreground are Grumman Wildcats on the flight deck of USS Ranger, Iceland, October 1943